The Battle Beyond
by LotWired
Summary: Following Xehanort's final defeat, Riku, Kairi, and Sora have found peace on their island but decide to follow through with their original plan to see other worlds together. However, they soon find that while they thought they were done with Kingdom Hearts, it is not done with them. Future violence, sexual themes, and sex.
1. The Things We Planned

Author's Note

This story is set to take place after Kingdom Hearts III. As such, generally all references to that as-of-now unreleased game will be vague in nature, primarily to avoid continuity conflicts with the actual story once it comes out. This is a complete revamp of a story I created on this site over a decade ago when I was eleven. While the writing itself was beyond resuscitation, I still loved the story and I hope you do as well.

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**Interspace**

The sky's collection of stars whirled by in a dizzying blur of light, keeping pace with his fractured and disintegrating mental capacity. His world shook, further jarring his concentration, though he knew it was not the gummi ship itself that was unstable. The ship zig-zagged through interspace, a symptom of his trembling hands and unreliable vision. If not for his wealth of experience in navigating space and the minute shred of integrity his brain maintained, avoiding the tribulations of space debris would have proved impossible.

The entire universe transfigured from one moment to the next, his heart beat thundering through every ounce of flesh and his breathing so audibly rapid it could be mistaken for the musical gasping of drowning. Then, it would all go white, his unfelt heart nonexistent and his unheard breathing inconsequential. It would all disappear into white and everything he saw, heard, smelt, felt, and knew would vanish like the stars he was leaving behind. He was light, even weightless, and unable to float back down into what he once knew to be consciousness, his memories and his loves as unimportant as what he ate for breakfast that morning. All at once, it'd come back in a passionate roar of _"FIND THEM! SHOW THEM…LEAD THEM INSIDE!"_ They were words his brain did not think but his dry mouth said anyways, echoes of the world he was fleeing from.

In a moment of clarity, he gandered at himself in one of the gummi ship's mirrors, his glassy grey eyes an unfamiliar sight. His face was pale, his insipid lips a sure indicator of lifelessness, and most of all, the white radiating out of his hair roots stood as the final testimony to his loss of self. Looking forward again, he let out a gasp as his line of sight fell on the planet in the distance, the very one that helped give his life purpose again, Disney Castle. _No no no no no no NO!_

He tried to turn the ship sharply only to be met with an icy hand wrenching at his heart, squeezing until everything faded away again except for the white and the guilty pain. He might as well have been screaming and clawing his eyes out for all he knew and by the time he regained himself, he knew from his raw throat he had done at least the former. He also knew at that moment he would not land on Disney Castle but crash, and if luck was on his side, Lea would not survive.

**Destiny Islands**

It didn't matter how many times they had wrestled together at play in the water or huddled up together when watching a horror movie late into the night, Kairi's fingers playing with his hair made it difficult for Riku not to blush. Kairi, who stood on a stool to be at eye level with the towering youth, scrunched her face in thought as she stared at him and Riku was thankful she was too distracted by his hair to notice the redness in his cheeks. Sora stood beside them, sizing himself up in Kairi's bathroom mirror with his own hands tugging at his insane hair, his face distorted in wonder.

Kairi reached her hands behind Riku's neck and grasped his hair in a fist behind his head, her face so close to his her lips must have been no more than inch from his own. She gave a little nod, her smooth pink lips the only thing Riku could possibly stare at now, and whispered "Yeah…definitely."

Being who he was and nothing less in both the best and worst ways, Sora loudly piped up "Hey Kairi, do you _really_ think I'll look better with my hair shorter?"

Not bothering to take her eyes or hands off Riku, Kairi addressed Sora without looking at him "Sora, you were the one who wanted the haircut, not me. Now Riku, he definitely needs a haircut."

While he'd cut his hair prior to undergoing the Mark of Mastery, Riku hadn't tended to it since and it had taken months of training and pursuit to finally conquer Xehanort. This gave time for both Riku's and Kairi's hair to get out of hand, with his reaching just past his shoulders again and hers plummeting down to her upper waist.

"Yeah, but, do YOU think it will LOOK good?!" Sora half-bellowed, turning to look at the odd arrangement his friends had put themselves in and, despite his own usual obliviousness, did not fail to notice the way Riku's face was starting to look like a Red Nocturne.

Much to his chagrin, Kairi let go of Riku's hair and turned around to face Sora, her hands on her hips in judgment. "Well…how much do you think I should whack off?" Sora looked back at the mirror and pinched a lock between his fingers, an inch of hair sticking up between his digits.

Folding her arms in disbelief, Kairi cocked an eye brow and chuckled to the challenge. Riku shook his head and let the laughter roll out of his chest, an antagonizing smirk playing on his lips once he calmed. He verbalized what he and Kairi were thinking. "That much?"

Looking up at the hunk of hair he was holding, Sora moved his fingers up to leave a mere quarter of an inch revealed and gave a wide smile. "This much. If I take too much…eh, no one will remember me! That's how everyone recognizes me!" Kairi giggled and wacked Sora on the head, balling Sora's hair into a fist to hold him still while bending down a bit to meet him at eye level. "I think…we should take this much off and then maybe, out of all the thousands of intergalactic space babes you've met, MAYBE you'll finally find a girlfriend."

Riku pat him and said "Sora, trust me when I say that out of all the things people remember you for, your cocky hair is the least of them. You'll have to do a lot more than renovate your head to actually snag a girl on any planet. Good thing for you we'll probably be visiting new places. A wider net means you might actually catch a fish, a guppy though it may be."

Turning around, Kairi huffed and leered at Riku, poking him in the chest to taunt him, although the gesture warmly amused him. "How can you say that, Riku? Any girl from here to the end of all worlds would be lucky to be Sora's girlfriend. He…just needs to not scare them off with his excitable...well, I guess excitable everything. But that's part of what makes him so charming." Sora's smile had disappeared temporarily during the exchange but after seemingly giving what Kairi said some thought, his grin returned in approval.

Beginning again, Kairi raised her voice to Riku "And YOU! You, with your mysterious sulking behind that cool silver hair of yours, I'm sure you can attract a girl but it'll be one who doesn't understand you, not with that mop in your face." Keeping his arms folded, Riku raised a brow and retorted "Oh and you know me so well, do you?" Of all the questions his brain could fish from the sea of his mind, that one was by far the dumbest, as it bore the most obvious answer.

Over what had been nearly two years, while Riku had journeyed somewhat with Sora, he hadn't seen as much of his Kairi as he would've liked. Indeed, she was his, as she had even said so with a happy smile on her face and he had felt as much ever since. When he first saw her in the World that Never Was after a year of being apart, even despite his appearance as Xehanort, Kairi had embraced him without hesitation. When he and Sora returned to the islands, she greeted Sora in the ocean with a desperate sort of happiness and Riku intended to leave them alone, only to feel her tackle him before he had a chance to walk out of the water.

They'd spent that whole day and night together telling each other the tales of their adventures and trials, not even considering the possibility of going home. That next morning, they received Mickey's message and a mere day after they were gone again in hot pursuit of the Mark of Mastery. Riku succeeded and Sora failed but it mattered little, as it had been Sora who dealt the final blow to Xehanort several months after. During their search and fight against Master Xehanort, the three of them saw each other here and there, but never under peaceful circumstances. It wasn't until their return just a week ago they had more than twenty four hours of true peace together.

That first day back had been a rainy paradise, as their arrival back home was met with raindrops and thunder intense enough to rip apart their canoes like twigs. They decided to settle into the secret place and spent the whole night huddled up while reminiscing on the past two years. They even shared an old piece of chalk to decorate their rocky sanctuary with memories of their journeys and it was now difficult to find a bare spot remaining untouched by their reminiscing. A thoughtful Pooh Bear and astonished Piglet were made a home near the entrance and served as warm happy faces to greet any newcomers to the haven. A single file line of seven princesses were made to prance along a tree root by Sora, only to have Riku modify the first princess in line, Kairi, into wearing an unrealistically gaudy dress.

Kairi snatched Riku's lengthy locks and was joined by Sora into tearing him down and tickling him until he could no longer breathe from laughter. When there was no more room on the walls, Sora lifted Kairi up to work on the ceiling, drawing the denizens of Disney Castle while the tall-enough Riku detailed his favorite Dream Eaters.

It was then while Kairi drew a rather elaborate picture of King Mickey on his throne that Riku noticed the picture Sora and Kairi had drawn together. In truth, it was sweet and if it didn't make his heart plunge and his mouth dry up, it probably would have made him smile in reverence to such devotion. You could tell the faces had been drawn years ago by their babyish simplicity while the exchanged paopu fruits were considerably recent and it was that fact more than anything that made him feel nauseous. Had he always been apart from them? He knew things would never quite be the same and had it occurred to him, even after he attained the Mark of Mastery, he may never be welcome back in the same way he once was.

Despite all that, he held onto the memories the three of them shared but seeing that image now, he wondered just how long ago it really was he became separate from them. A tear had only begun to roll down his cheek when Sora loudly proclaimed they were all a bunch of idiots and motioned to Riku to lock the keyhole with him, the one they had rather stupendously forgotten about for nearly a year.

Sora hadn't cast him off, he knew then more so than ever at that moment but they had suffered and fought together while Kairi's experiences with him belonged to a whole different category, much less a different book. The most she'd seen of him in the past two years was through the window of Sora's heart as Riku sold off pieces of himself for the darkness, for her. Without a doubt in his heart, he knew she had to have seen, to witness, to know, to feel, and to be disgusted by his deep feelings for her and horrified at how far into the darkness those feelings had dragged him. He knew she would never look at him the same and, telling himself he was at peace with that, he joined Sora in sealing the heart of their childhood home, the one he cast off so willingly.

It was only two nights later after Riku made an effort to avoid Kairi, if not both of them, that he woke to the sound of clanking at his window. He'd been sulking the past two days wherever he went, moving about the islands to places he knew Sora wouldn't go looking for him. He thought about what was to be the rest of his life now that his old one was being thrown piece by piece out the door and made the conscious effort to not think about Kairi.

Yet, that life was crawling into his bedroom window in the middle of the night and he reminded himself of Sora's never-ending persistence when it came to his friends. Only, when he sat up and looked across his second-story bedroom, it wasn't his perky comrade but his lost love, Kairi. It was hard to see in the dark but her arms were definitely crossed with her head cocked to one side, her footsteps soft and quiet as she stepped her way slowly to him. She stopped about half-way across the room and leaned against the wall with her legs crossed now as well, an odd smile splayed her lips. Now that she was closer, he could see she was just wearing pajamas, a long purple tank decorated with pink flowers and white bloomer shorts.

Riku couldn't move but even if he found the will to, he wouldn't be certain if just simply swinging his legs off the bed was right or wrong now. They stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds, or maybe minutes, and neither gave any hint of potential movement on the horizon. Finally, after what seemed several hours or days, Kairi began talking as though they'd been in the middle of a conversation. "So, how've you been?"

Stuttering at first in shock, Riku replied "Wh-what do you mean? How've you been?" "Me? Oh, I've been ok, kinda angry at someone, might have left my house at 11:53 P.M. to go kill him in his sleep but I made too much noise climbing up the gutter to his room. No, no, I was just wondering where you've been since yesterday morning. Haven't been home and I haven't seen you on the island. You've been busy." Now she'd taken his voice, which would have been useful at this point in the event his brain might actually crank out an excuse. Instead, all he managed was "Ye-yeah." Her smile widened in such a way that made him uncomfortable but she made no other movement than to turn her head away from him.

A few more minutes, actual minutes, of silence passed with her staring at his wall while he stared at her, wondering briefly if she'd forgotten why she came. Movement finally gave him some lee-way to turn his head in the direction she was looking to and he found something he'd all but forgotten about. A picture of the three of them 'graduating' from elementary school hung on the wall, which showed Kairi hugging Riku while he reached behind her to knock off the tower of graduation caps Sora stacked on his head. The sound of her walking towards him made him look up to her, her arms no longer crossed and her face resembling that of a stern librarian.

"Riku…I need you to do something for me. Come on." She grabbed his hand and helped him up, leading him out the window down to his private family dock where his canoe waited. He didn't question her when she handed him one paddle while she took the other nor when she steered them in the direction of their child-hood paradise. Everything was so surreal and if not for the feeling of her hand gripping his own, he'd swear he was in some cruel dream of his minds own invention. He paused when he realized exactly where she was taking him but all she needed to do was turn around and gaze at him, reassuring him with her eyes better so than her mouth could.

He followed her to the secret place, the cooling night sand on their bare feet feeling unreal to him while thousands of stars in the sky looked down in judgment on him. Kairi stopped in front of the picture, the one that was slowly killing something warm inside of him, and bent down to pick up what was left of the chalk, snapping it in half and handing him a piece. "Here, take this. There's a bare spot. There's one more thing to finish."

Kairi sat down cross-legged and began working on something above the depiction of the paopu fruit exchange, taking her time without bothering to give any explanation. His knotted stomach further turned and twisted, incurring a nervous nausea within him. He wanted to leave, to run away, because he didn't want to know what it was her hand had made that would only finish off his breaking heart. Yet, he wanted to know, to see firsthand like she wanted him to and he settled himself when he realized how much he trusted her.

When she was done, she turned to look up at him, her head blocking her work, and said softly but firmly "Sit down." He complied and, finally at eye level with her design, did not quite understand what it was he was looking at but he felt his mouth dry up again. It was done awkwardly, much like the rest of the drawing, but there he was immortalized on the wall above Kairi and Sora, a paopu fruit being fed to him by Kairi.

"Sora's easy, you know? He acts oblivious and sometimes he is. But all in all, if you don't say something, he'll still know it's there. That's just him. But you, you try to do the same and it ends up all wrong. Riku…"

Riku turned to look at her and he found that soft lovely face he'd fallen in love with giving him this subtle look of desperation and hurt. "Yes Kairi?"

"You…you belong to me…" "Huh?"

"You belong to me. You always have. That first day we met back when you and Sora came to visit me, you've both been mine since then. And you…" She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, as though telling him that it too was hers, a fact a he couldn't quite reciprocate verbally. She continued "You…you don't have my permission to leave. You can't just avoid us because of what happened. Those things happened and they happened because I'm yours too. You weren't going to lose me. And despite your anger and the stupid mistakes you made, I'm so thankful you did all that, went that far for me. Riku, thank you."

For the first time that night Riku's throat cooperated with him and his brain knew just the perfect words to say in spite of his light-headedness. "You're welcome, Kairi. And…I'm sorry…" Her finger was on his lips, protesting that what was about to escape them was not necessary, her shaking head hitting the idea home. While he may have preferred her own lips in place of her finger, her soft flesh on his lips was making him dizzy along with her words and it was then he felt his face flush and tears well up behind his eyes.

She smiled and said once again in a softer tone "Thank you Riku." He watched as she looked back at the picture but didn't notice when she moved her hand from his shoulder to his hand, sending a tingle up his arm. It was the hand holding the chalk and she lifted it up to place it on the paopu fruit she was giving him on the wall, the touch of it further nerving him.

"Will you…will you stay, Riku? With Sora and I? Be ours until every star blinks out of the sky? I promise, I'll always be with you." Without saying anything, his hand began to move in a line from his image across to hers, a cool tear traveling silently down his face. She let his hand go as he scribbled in an arm and connected it to the paopu Sora had previously drawn, creating as detailed a hand as he could muster around the star fruit. There it was, his love for her clearly depicted on the wall along with the now free-falling tears down his face but even more amazing than the drawing itself was the girl looking upon it with content on her face. In fact, she was smiling and if the light were any better in the cave, he could have told whether or not for sure those were tears collecting in her eyes.

She confirmed this when she wiped her eyes and said "Don't forget Sora or if he sees this he'll get jealous and confront me about all the attention I'm getting." She giggled and looked at him, unashamed of her wet cheeks and red eyes, her puffy lips making her all the more beautiful. He laughed with her and began working on another arm from Riku to Sora while he said "You know, he's going to look at this and think he's crazy. If he asks us about it, we just need to tell him it's always been this way and let him think he's nuts." That made her lean back in a deep laughter that lasted until she started coughing, her head nodding as she sat back up to observe his finished work.

She giggled and said "Your arms are uneven." He gawked, then laughed unexpectedly and shook his head, turning to her to say "What? My arms are uneven? Look at the size of the paopus. Sora's feeding you a small, unripe, nasty thing…" "And you with him." He continued shaking his head and held up a finger, talking through his laughter "No, no, he definitely picked that, dammit. I would have climbed to the top of the damn tree to pick the best one. And you were clearly lazy as usual and picked up the fat ultra-ripe ones that fell on the ground." If anyone else were on the island that night, they would have been scared away from the peals of laughter echoing out of the cave, two monsters dancing together in the dark.

When they finally left at some odd hour in the A.M., they didn't bother going back home but instead steered a different course to sneak up to Sora's dock. Managing to crawl through his window without letting their subdued but still hysterical laughter wake up the heavy snorer, they greeted his drooling face with a swinging pillow. He yelled in surprise and after much confused wrestling and even the appearance of Oathkeeper in his hand, they finally calmed him enough so he could assure his mother through his door that all she heard was him having a nightmare.

The next two days went by like that with the three of them never leaving one another's sides, weaving their own personal paradise between themselves. They showered at each other's houses, ate at one-another's tables, slept on their bedroom floors, and shared their happiness. Two spotlessly perfect days went by before Sora wanted to show them something from Jiminy's journal, only to have it slip from his hands and drop open to the ground.

When he picked it up it was open to the last page, which was completely blank save for two sentences they knew Jiminy would never write. The following two days were almost as perfect save for the fact they were all excitedly nervous because finally, it was happening. It was decided. They were going to see other worlds together.

It was a stupid question because the night Kairi took Riku to the secret place, she showed him just how much she saw and understood of him. She saw past what he thought was everything left of him since his journey through the darkness and grasped at things he didn't know were left. She made him feel as though he'd grown, in fact, and couldn't begin to describe just how happy he was she still wanted to share this journey with them, with him. Kairi didn't laugh at his question but smiled and held up a pair of scissors, snipping them as she said "I know you well enough to know when you need a hair-cut. You look like you're into grunge without all the hair grease."

"Uh-huh, you need one too. I can't look at you without having this impulse to move your hair out of your face." Riku said.

"Don't listen to him, Kairi." Sora cut in. "Riku just doesn't want to feel lonely when you're hacking at his head. Hey Riku, how about Kairi cuts mine and I'll do yours?"

"Just stay away from my head, Sora. In fact, stay away from me anytime you happen to find yourself with any kind of sharp object, especially one Kairi's given you. And Kairi is pretty. In fact, that's why I want her to get a haircut, so I can see her face better." Riku didn't realize quite what he said until the words already left his mouth so he decided to just roll with it, as it was the truth anyways.

"You guys are weirdly disgusting when you're complimenting a girl. You're this freak combo of 'matter-of-fact' and totally gushy. Now Riku, turn around and face the mirror. I won't go any shorter than it used to be. And besides…" She put down the scissors and slapped her hands around his cheeks, smooshing his face to give him fish lips, then let go and ran her fingers up his forehead, moving his hair from in front of his eyes. She continued, "You're pretty cute yourself, when I can see your face that is."

Her clear blue eyes met his turquoise ones and he felt his stomach cartwheel, her fingers running through his hair awakening feelings he'd rather not have so close to her. She was pretty, that was unmistakable, but she looked so soft when she was that close and it made him think back in Hollow Bastion when he'd cup the face of her lifeless body. He'd never taken his gloves off though, never actually felt her skin out of respect for her, and now he was wishing he had or rather wishing he could touch her now.

Riku smiled back at her and said, "Fine, if you think it'll make me as pretty as you, cut away. But stick to the deal, you work on me, I'll work on you. Unless…if you really don't want to, I mean. Sora is right, you are pretty either way Kairi."

"Nah, Sora's all gung-ho on it now too, so I'll be the one left out if I back out now. Besides, if we're going to be running around seeing other worlds, it'll be easier if I don't have all this hair in my face. Hmm, let's do it this way. Sora, stop picking at your head like a monkey and come here, we're going to pretty you up…"

"I'm already pretty…"

"Riku, you cut Sora's hair…"

"I thought you were going to cut my hair, Kairi!"

"…while I work on yours. Then, you can cut mine."

"Why am I the only one not handling the scissors?"

"You cool with that, Riku?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I'm not! Kairi, he's going to shave a Komory Bat into my head! "

"…that is an idea."

"SEE?! At least let me cut your hair, Kairi. I can use it as leverage."

"NO!" Riku and Kairi resounded in unison, shooting him a glare sharp enough to cut through flesh and bone, inciting a nervous chuckle out of Sora.

Eventually, they pulled themselves together enough to work out a system of Sora standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Riku, who had cut his own hair a thousand times before, standing behind him while he cut Sora's hair, and lastly Kairi placed on top of a stool behind Riku. Riku was sure Sora felt awkward but then he'd gotten himself into the predicament of his own volition, the byproduct of petty jealously at the thought of being left out of the pact.

It was nice, though, to have Kairi play with his hair, and he suppressed a giggle every time she fluffed him up in the mirror. He was actually looking forward to doing the same to hers and it made him wonder what her hair smelled like, though he'd need to be careful if he wanted to sniff it as he was sure Sora would be watching him like a hawk.

Riku was so happy. They were all so happy. It was disgusting, really, how giddily blissful they were together, how excited they were for the journey to come. Somehow, they'd taken the message in the journal as a good omen because for once they weren't making the journey for stars blinking out in the sky. They were making it for them. They would leave at sunset the next day and it would never be the same after that night, though, they knew that anyways after reading the words the page offered up to them.

'_**You've opened the door. Will you not step through?'**_

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If you've made it to this point, thank you so much for reading! I write as a hobby but I find I become overly serious about it and so I'm practicing speed-writing with this fic while trying to maintain quality. The next chapter will have a lot less thinking and much more actual action and forward story progression. If you have a moment, please do review and tell me the things I need to improve upon! The next chapter should be updated rather soon.


	2. The Things We Didn't Plan

Overly Lengthy Author's Note

So, yeah, I realized I did the unforgivable in the last chapter by calling Lea 'Axel' and I would like to peacefully beseech all of the more astute (obsessive), analytical (crazy), and passionate (megalithic fanboyish) Kingdom Hearts fans to please forgive me. I have corrected it.

One thing I'd also like to point out for this chapter besides my inability to cut it off in a more appropriate manner is that I reference something from KH CoM a lot of people tend to overlook. In CoM, Riku, due to having once been (and still sort of existing as) a being of darkness, can 'smell' the darkness in people's hearts, much in the same way Princesses of Heart can sense darkness. When I posted my other fanfic a decade ago, this was a point several people picked on but it is something that exists within the KH universe, they just never really mention it after CoM. That's all for now and thanks for reading!

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The black was thick both visually and in a tangible force, the darkness pummeling Sora like a debris-filled whirlwind. He cried out in defiance and ran against the waves of darkness, feeling it penetrate through flesh, muscle, and bone to make his body rack in surreal pain. It all weighed heavy on his heart, tempting him to quiet his determination and halt his campaign but he would not. If anything, it only fueled his vigor, propelling him forward, his target not far before him now.

In a matter of moments, he saw him and leaped, breaking through the darkness in but a single moment to bring the Keyblade down upon Xehanort. The darkness all around them dissipated as Xehanort blocked Sora's Keyblade with his own completed X-blade, whirling around to strike sideways at Sora's abdomen.

Sora kicked off the blade and flipped backwards away to block another oncoming frontal blow from Xehanort. Xehanort pushed down, his X-blade resonating with a force that made Sora's gut twist and his hands shake, his sweaty grip on the blade unsure. "Just let go." Xehanort whispered to the boy. "Just let go and I'll right all the wrongs light has done these worlds. Every false hope, every feeling of guilt will be gone, including that from your failure, boy!"

In a moment of sheer anger, Sora's grip tightened and he thrust against Xehanort with a strength he didn't know he possessed. Xehanort flung backwards but recuperated quickly enough to take advantage of Sora's expended strength, swiftly thrusting an orb of darkness towards his abdomen. Sora did not have time to react and for a moment, he wondered if this was going to be his moment of failure until Riku reached them just in time to perform Sacrifice with his Divewing Keyblade. The devastating attack knocked Xehanort on the ground several feet away and he stayed there, the wind literally knocked out of him.

Upon seeing his foe fallen, Riku fell to one knee in exhaustion and agony, the attack he performed taking its necessary toll on him. Sora took a step and reached a hand out to his friend when he saw the Seeker of Darkness stand up, the X-blade still in his hand. Before Sora or Riku had time to react, Xehanort took the blade in both hands and held it vertically in front of him. He twisted his arms and let it go, grinning widely as it spun in front of him to begin ascending above him towards the sky. Sora heard Riku gasp and looked at his ally to see him staring in terror straight up to the sky and followed in kind, his breath catching in his throat when his eyes fell upon it.

There, made up of a line of shimmering silver glinting in the sky, was a pitch-black keyhole of such proportions Sora had never seen before. Maybe it was made to appear massive by how low it hung in the sky or maybe it was anchored high above them and it was simply colossal enough to look close. Regardless, it bore a hole into Sora's very being and as the X-blade began to glow and the Keyhole shined in kind, Sora knew what is was he was finally beholding.

"Kingdom Hearts!" Xehanort called commandingly and it came to him, unraveling from the door breaking open between the keyhole in the sky, the darkness funneling its way down. It swirled and clumped, only to burst forth into thick greedy branches as it groped its way towards them, striking dread into Sora's heart.

The X-blade shined one final time as it entered the door and vanished into the darkness, incurring the parting doors to pick up pace. The earth shook beneath their feet fiercely enough to knock them over and as Sora fell backwards he shuddered and nearly screamed when he saw what loomed above them. _But why?___He suddenly found himself thinking. _Why is Kingdom Hearts a door to darkness?_

"I've been waiting…for you…" Xehanort all but growled, reaching his hand towards the hungry sky. Above them was a black circular mass the size of a world radiating darkness like plumes out of a volcano, reaching for anything and everything around and beyond it. Sora knew it would reach farther still because it wouldn't be satisfied with them or the Keyblade Graveyard they made into their battle ground. It wouldn't be done until every speck of light was blotted out in the universe and Sora remembered what those lights meant to him.

They meant Kairi, they meant Riku, they meant Donald and Goofy, and every person he'd met or would meet someday and it was then he knew for a certainty it could not end. He would not let it and as he turned his head to look upon Riku's own decisive expression, he gave a bold smile as though to say he agreed.

"You're wrong. You're still wrong!" Sora said while standing, taking Riku's hand to help him up.

Turning to face them, Xehanort wore a face of pure triumphant malice and asked "And how is that, boy?"

"Kingdom Hearts…is not made up of darkness." Riku huffed out, the words obviously tiring him but he said them anyways, as the truth rejuvenated him more than restrained silence.

"Are you blind? Look around you! Seven hearts of purest light and thirteen hearts of utmost darkness made up that key and this is the door it opened. If you do not like what has come out of it, feel free to die." Xehanort proclaimed, pointing up to the descending mass of darkness.

"No…" Sora said walking towards the twisted Keyblade Master. "I…I don't know when…and I don't even know who…but someone told me a very long time ago that light and darkness go hand-in-hand. This might be Kingdom Hearts but it's still only a part of it."

Laughing at them as though Sora made a joke, he eyed the Keyblade master like a cat might eye a mouse. "Tell me then, Sora, where is this other half? Where is it to be found amongst the rage and despair you see before you?"

Despite the turbulent chaos, the thick cloud of suffocating darkness, and the distracting thundering of his own heart, Sora managed to discern that within Xehanort's taunting was an actual question detached from sarcasm. It disquieted and even confused him but Sora knew of his toying and his mind-games, as it was what he used to seduce and possess Terra and Riku. Sora walked to stand several feet away from him, his Keyblade in hand and his determination undeterred, as he knew what rested upon this moment.

"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes. We're in it. We're in the very core of all shadows. I don't know who said that but if it's true, then that other half is right here." Without waiting another moment, Sora leaped forth, raising his Keyblade high above his head to come down upon Xehanort, his blade piercing the heart of greatest darkness.

In a flash brighter than any star, the top of the gigantic black mass ripped open to a dazzling beam of light and Sora didn't know if it was his own, Master Xehanorts, or someone else's entirely but he heard a scream across the abyss. The mass began to ripple with light and the beam split, arched, and came down upon them like silvery rain, the first ray hitting Xehanort right in his heart. From his chest, Sora saw a heart wrapped in darkness appear but within moments, it was resonating with its own gentle light. _Within the greatest darkness, there is always a little light. Yours might have been the smallest but it was still there._

From beneath him, Sora heard a deep but hardy chuckle and he looked down to see the old master smiling in what Sora might have guessed was genuine glee. "Thank you…Sora. I've waited…for so long…I knew…I knew you could…I knew you'd be the one to…" Before he could finish, his body erupted in a burst of light, dissipating into the air towards the now pure white orb in the sky. Rays of light fell around them, forming growing puddles of light wherever they touched and Sora turned to find Riku yelling silently out to him while running his way, a look of sheer terror on his face.

Before his friend and ally could reach him, a ray came down and hit Sora, piercing his heart through and through, his body freezing in place and time with no consideration to any protest of his mind. Closing his eyes to his surroundings, he felt and knew everything, only to then forget who he even was. Riku was gone, Kairi no longer existed, his island was a place he'd never heard of, and if he'd ever been born, he had no idea who gave birth to him or if they'd ever loved him but out of all that, someone called to him "_**You have opened the door. Will you not step through?**_"

**Destiny Islands**

Sora's eyes opened slowly to a blue sky and after a few moments of sleepy-eyed contemplation, he sat up and yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth. It took him a moment to realize his heart was pounding and when he put his hand on his chest, he remembered the dream that wasn't quite a dream. Just to be certain he wasn't back in that abysmal hell, Sora looked at his surroundings and was relieved to see the palms and underbrush, a tell-tale sign he was indeed on Destiny Islands. In truth, everything except the very end of it was pure memory from a week prior during their final battle with Xehanort but everything after his foe's end was just nightmare.

After Xehanort's demise, Terra was released and after eleven years, Ventus, Aqua, and Terra were reunited. As far as Sora knew they'd since returned to Castle Oblivion to restore it to the Land of Departure and restart their own training. They had invited Sora, Riku, and even Kairi to join them but after the weariness of two years without rest, they'd refused them without a second thought.

Standing up, he stretched and felt more than a little blissful at what was his first full rest uninterrupted by his sly friend and relatively naughty crush. While Sora didn't mind sleepovers, waking up with morning wood was always awkward in the presence of others, especially when those others consisted of the object of your desire and your rival to that end. After this nap, there'd likely be a lot more of that, as today was the last day he'd spend on the island for a long while and he figured it'd be some time before he'd sleep on his own again.

For the first time in five days, Sora, Riku, and Kairi had been apart for a several hour period but Sora couldn't lie, he enjoyed saying goodbye to the islands in his own private way. He'd spent most of the day fishing at one of the smaller islands further out from the mainland and its surrounding islands. It was much flatter than their island and boasted a far lesser variety of vegetation with mostly mangroves, sea weed, and a handful of coral beds, the perfect havens for fish but a detriment to playing children. He'd been all alone today but he found it rather relaxing to just fish, his father's harpoon his chosen weapon over his Keyblade.

When he thought about it, between always being accompanied by Donald and Goofy, the inhabitants of other worlds, and now Kairi and Riku, he'd scarcely enjoyed a single moment of peace on his own in two years. He was happy, so unexplainably happy, to be permanently reunited with Kairi and Riku but the fish didn't run the chance of giving him a boner or feelings of inferiority, and so he was grateful for their silent company.

It was faster with the harpoon, although he could catch them with his hands as he had when he played fetch for Kairi in their preparation two years prior. He really only did it then because Riku did it though and Riku did it to impress Kairi, which he supposed meant he really did it for her too but he didn't tend to think on such things.

Riku was always a patient soul, his deft temperance earning himself points amongst his peers, parents, and friends but it was ultimately Sora's own brashness that'd gotten himself out of countless fixes on their adventures. After so long, Sora finally contended himself with their differences and even reveled in them now, as he'd always emulated Riku with the desire to no longer be in his shadow. Only, he found it was the qualities he never appreciated setting him apart and so he used his sleek harpoon as opposed to his clumsy hands.

After regaining himself, he walked back to the mainland via the interconnecting bridges of the housing district as opposed to canoeing. Canoeing was faster and gave one a chance to reconnect with the water but the slower bridges gave him a more relaxing and beautiful journey as he walked along the islands. In his right hand he held his harpoon, which he was taught to use by his late father who passed six years ago, just long enough away to forget the finer features in his face but close enough to keep a stash of unforgettable memories. In his left hand was a large porous net filled with enough fish to feed everyone at dinner tonight and keep his mother's freezer filled for a few weeks on, the least he could do for the woman who always met him with a warm embrace.

The islands were a world of lackadaisical routine, the denizens of such being an ordinarily complacent people, their lives neither complex nor tedious. That was the case for most at the least but Sora had never been able to quite picture himself settling on the sand dunes or into the tiny caches of seaside communities nestling within the larger islands. He hadn't quite felt the raw urge to flee the land of his birth like Riku but especially since his first reunion with Destiny Islands one year ago, Sora knew he would never stay here on a permanent basis.

He had missed it, sure, but he was just as excited now to leave it as he was two years ago when they worked bit by bit on their vessel, a simple raft made from pieces of the home they were abandoning. In spite of that truth, Sora had acclimated back into his home as though he'd never left and everything right down to his home life hadn't budged an inch since he left. Besides, he missed so much school that even if he wanted to make a life here, he'd need to spend the next two years sitting in school desks that felt even less natural to him than they did to the average teenager.

The late sun was low in the sky, coaxing the ocean give off colors of shimmering gold, the sight more beautiful now than every other time he'd seen it in his life. The orange tile roofs of the little white houses dotting the main island imitated the sunset, creating this menagerie of corals amongst the flowers and dirt paths of the mainland. As he approached, Sora smiled at the sight because while he was leaving it without a second thought, this was the closest thing to home he knew.

Most of the houses were situated either directly on the water or near it, his own being a two-story right on the coast with the perfect view of their child-hood island. As he left the long wooden bridge and met with the dirt path, he heard faint footsteps creeping up behind him and turned around to find Riku holding an armful of kindling, his chest bare and shirt tied around his waist.

"Um…why are you shirtless and sneaking up behind me?"

"Because your big feet clunk so loudly I could have been breathing on your neck before you heard me. And I forgot how hot it gets here in the summer. Your mom sent me out to get firewood for the cookout. Sorry, the idea of your mother asking me for wood got me overheated, so I took my shirt off." Riku said, walking past a speechless Sora.

"Riku! Why do you always have to talk about my mom like that! And you're done now, put your shirt back on!"

"Nah. Your mom's always cracked me up. Pretty certain if my parents throw me out, your mom will adopt me on the basis of my abs alone. No worries, I have no intention of being your dad."

"Riku…" Sora growled, rubbing his face with one of his hands, dreading the usual odd antics between his mother and his best friend.

To say Riku's parents were on the verge of kicking him out would be an over-statement but the first night they returned to their respective homes, Sora could hear screaming several houses away from what he swore was Riku's mother. While he hadn't said much about it, Sora assumed Riku's parents didn't take his explanation for his second whole-year absence very well, as he'd avoided his home as far as he could tell.

Catching back up to his friend, Sora asked "Are your parents coming to the shin-dig?"

"Nope. They haven't said yes but I sure as hell know a 'no' when I don't hear one."

Looking down solemnly, Sora sighed and said "That's too bad. Sorry they're giving you so much grief. I mean, what exactly did you tell them?"

"Eh, the closest thing to the truth that I could. I mean, they were frantic a year ago when I got home and had more or less saved me from having to make up an alibi by having their own theories about me 'running-away.' So, you know, I might have let them run with that theory and since the 'I have business to attend to' farewell I gave them before the Mark of Mastery, they might have lost their understanding. It's alright. If they weren't pissed, I'd think something's wrong with them. It's better for them to be angry and know I'm alive than sad and think I'm dead. Now they can peacefully hate my guts. Ha ha ha!" Riku's laughter wasn't entirely false but Sora could tell he only found it funny because the situation itself was laced with hilarity.

Sora smiled, satisfied that Riku was at least maintaining an upbeat attitude, especially after those two days where he seemingly all but vanished. Sora suspected his midnight sneak-attack reappearance had a lot to do with Kairi.

Nearing Sora's house, he realized the last time he'd seen Kairi was with Riku, so he asked "Hey, where's Kairi? Thought you were going to the marketplace with her. She seemed really excited about something."

"Yeah, too excited. I don't trust her when she gets all giddy like that." Riku said, shaking his head and shivering at the thought, as though doing so would relieve some sort of bad mojo.

Remembering how intensely she'd been giggling with that menacing smirk of hers that morning, Sora realized he didn't blame him and was mildly worried over what she had in store. Arriving at the house, Riku set down the kindling and they went inside, leaving their shoes by the door. While his mother lived in anything but, their house seemed to be decorated in the past with old family pictures assembled throughout the house along with memorabilia from his father. A fishing net carrying an array of sea shells hung from the living room ceiling and old fishing supplies adorned the walls along with mosaics of sea shells, the finishing touch being his father's old shoes still waiting by the doorstep.

"Mom, we're home!" Sora yelled.

"Sora? And Riku?" He heard her call from the kitchen. "Did you catch any fish?" A quizzical female voice called.

"Uhh, maybe!" Sora chirped, swinging the net as he waltzed into the kitchen, where he found Kairi peeling potatoes. She looked very cute today, if not rather sexy, wearing a red shawl tied around her waist over violet boy shorts with a white halter top, her short hair up in a ponytail. Sora had always found Kairi to be pretty but every time he saw her lately, he seemed to notice something else about her that sweetened the sight. She always had the promising beginnings of a nice figure but two years added a deepness to her curves and a fullness to her body he never realized he missed. More than ever now, he found himself eyeing her when he thought no one was looking and the urge to grab and feel her surfaced every time she came near.

In a matter-of-fact tone, his mother said "Oh good! I always knew you'd be skilled at fishing, it's in your blood."

"Then why did you ask if I caught anything?"

"Because I wanted you to feel the excitement that comes with making a parent feel unexpectedly proud. Sorry your mother is so easy to please, dear."

"You know, I'm not entirely certain anything you said made sense, or was even good for me for that matter, but whatever, I caught dinner." Sora said, hugging his mother and giving her a kiss on the cheek while he poured the fish into the sink.

She smiled at him and pinched his cheek, completely disregarding her food-covered hands, the fish sauce she left on her son's face proof of her motherly love. Quina had always carried a light heart but widowhood seemed to inflate it even more out of necessity. His mother was a plain brunette and slightly plump but she'd had enough casual boyfriends over the years he supposed there was an attractiveness there. The plumpness might have made her into what some called 'voluptuous' but he didn't have the desire nor the man power to think of such things.

Riku walked over and gave her a kiss on the other cheek with a "Hi Mrs. Quen!"

She looked Riku up and down, then grabbed a towel and smacked him with it, saying "Go put a shirt on Riku! That's too much fresh flesh for my old eyes to see, you're going to give me a heart attack. I should've eaten you when you were still small, cute, and…well, maybe never innocent, but we can pretend dear."

Riku smiled at her and patted her lower back with a "Yes mom," then turned to smirk at Sora, whose very innards were twisting in anticipation of lunging out of his throat to assault his lewd friend.

If there was any one thing that could be described as serenely routine, it was his mother, as she had never once questioned his absence since his arrival. When he finally showed up on her doorstep a year ago for that one day, she'd rushed to hold him, crying quietly all the while. The words had never been spoken but Sora silently assumed his mother had been among the survivors when Destiny Islands was destroyed two years ago. Due to wherever she ended up or whatever she had experienced during that time, she just didn't seem to question her son's absence for that year or the year that followed. She simply seemed happy to see that, like her, he did eventually return and, if but for a short time, he was her son once more even if she had to give him up again.

Sora walked over and peered above Kairi, who was sitting hunched over a garbage can, wielding a potato peeler in one hand with the victim in the other. She glanced back up at him with a hint of secretive mischief in her eyes and said, "How about helping me you lazy bum? Your mom is too easily impressed. I know you could have caught twice as many fish out there considering how long you took. How was your nap?"

Putting his hands behind his head while swaying lightly, he chirped "I think you're just angry because Riku made up some excuse to not carry your shopping bags today." Again, he caught himself peering at her as his eyes casually rolled over her legs, which were almost clasped around the can she was using to throw potato skins in. For a split second, the idea of him being there instead of the can crawled into his mind, only there her legs were wrapped fully around him with her shapely calves pressing into his back. Her face would be red from blushing as he tended her neck with his mouth but that would be when he'd get a hard-on in the middle of the kitchen as he stood right in front of her, so his mind wandered to something else.

Kairi chuckled at his spacing-off and then became distracted with trying to blow a lock of stray hair from out in front of her face, clearly not wanting to touch it with her messy hands. Sora watched amused for a few moments as she became increasingly frustrated at both the hair and the useless spectator above her. He finally did the gentlemanly thing by fingering the lock and smoothly placing it behind her ear, bending over to whisper, "You know, you do look much prettier with short hair, especially since it's really cute to see you struggle."

She made to bite him on the nose and he shot back up, his ensuing laughter catching the attention of his mother, who'd been fussing over Riku up to that point. She asked, "Are you two being disgusting?"

"No more than you and Riku are. Kairi's just sad she didn't have a shopping buddy today." Sora said, grinning impishly.

His mother shook her head and said "Kairi didn't need Riku to tote her around, she wanted a model."

"A model?" Sora questioned, cocking an eyebrow first at this mother, then turned to find Kairi's smirk in full-throttle. She stood up and grabbed Sora's outer jacket, wiping her messy potato hands on the clothing like a towel as though it wasn't attached to a person.

"Um, you're welcome?" Sora said unsurely to Kairi's unusual action and watched as she sauntered past him, looking back to smile and say playfully, "Don't worry, you won't be needing them anymore."

He turned to watch her walk away and his eyes fell on the small of her back, where her pale skin peeked out at him tauntingly, leading to a waist that curved more deeply than he remembered. Her butt had always been well defined, but the loose shawl that shook around it as she walked forced his stare a little too obviously. Next he knew, a damp towel had been flung in his face from his mother, who was smiling widely at him as she watched his gawking. Thankfully, Riku didn't notice, as he was too busy pretending to butcher fish while watching her out of the corner of his eye as she headed up to Sora's bedroom.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" His mother whispered, putting her arm around him to lean on his shoulder, speaking quietly "I assume…nothing's come of your pursuits?"

Sora turned his head to look his mother in the eye, a mild but somewhat somber smile displayed on her face while her hand played with his still-wild hair. He waited a moment and shook his head lightly with a frown, not wanting Riku to listen in on the conversation.

Whispering, his mother said "Well, all good things come to those who wait or, you know, madly ravish the ones they love."

Sora blushed and smiled at her, saying quietly "Heh, if only it were that easy."

"Riku! Come here a minute!" Kairi called out from upstairs and Riku obeyed, stepping up the stairs promptly but slowly enough to just keep her waiting, Sora noted.

A little more loudly now that Riku was gone, Sora said "I don't know what she thinks of me. She's been spending a lot of time with Riku lately."

"Jealous?" His mother questioned, squeezing his ear and gripping him a little more tightly for what he supposed was to be reassurance.

"…I guess. I just thought, you know, that she knew but she hasn't said or done anything that makes me think that's true."

Letting her arm down off him, she grasped both shoulders and turned him to face her, her face erratically transforming to an odd sternness and her voice absent of all her usual airiness. "Are you saying you haven't told her directly? You haven't actually said 'I like you' or 'I love you' or 'I'd like to pull your hair and have you every which-way."

"No, mom, I'm not as subtle or charismatic as you." Sora said, giving his mother an awkward smile, lacking the ability to take her seriously.

"Well, you have to. Kairi's a sweetie and she has a brain but she's not going to just jump to conclusions. The three of you…you've been so close for so long and I have no doubt that after everything…that closeness with remain. But when it comes to romance between friends, you need to tread carefully."

"Yeah, I know, that's why…"

"That's not what I mean. Riku's…a little bolder than you. You need to tell her. Just say it. It's not wrong too. If you don't, you may wake up one day to find him kissing her and at that point, it would be wrong."

His breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened a bit, realizing that Riku's desire for her was even more prominent than he realized, perhaps even to the point that Kairi really did know. "You…you think she likes him?"

"I don't know. I think she likes you but she may not want this to end."

"What to end?" He asked, his voice laced with subdued panic and eagerness.

Turning back to the counter to debone the fish, she continued "This friendly threesome you guys share. If you pair off, you know that while the three of you may always have each other, two of you will share more than the third ever could. It may become more two than three. Can't eat both cake and pie for dessert, no one has the stomach for it. Well, except for me that is. But, thinking of it that way, what do you want to do?"

He stood silent for a moment, then whispered despite not being able to be heard by his love or rival, saying "I think…that's why Riku hasn't made a move…and maybe me too."

"…Do you want her badly enough to risk that? I think Riku does. I don't mean to sound like I'm pushing you but you may end up being the third if you don't. Riku cares about you but I think he's always known when he wants something and a lot like you, I think there's something…someone in particular he's wanted for a very long time."

Just then, the door to Sora's room opened and Kairi all but skipped out, running quickly down the stairs up to Sora, a clothing store bag in her arms. "I finally convinced Riku to put his on, now for you." She handed him the bag and he took it curiously, looking at her in wonderment.

Reaching into the bag, Sora pulled out something blue, a long jacket with a white hood and a gold crown emblem on the sleeve above the word 'knight,' two white zippered pockets adorning the sides. The color was flashier than he usually liked for his jackets but looking at it now, he knew instantaneously he liked it. Looking up, he saw Kairi fidgeting in place while wearing a smile on her face bright enough to light up the darkness of a whole world.

"Well? There's more! I didn't just get you a jacket without something to go with it. Take it out!"

He did as she bid and reached inside, pulling out a jumpsuit with cargo-like pants, blue and black straps adorning it in various places. The top of it was bright red and continued down as such until it reached a curved flap on the lower thigh of the pants attached to a blue strap, underneath which the second half of the pants were black. Similar to outfits he'd worn before, the black straps could be found on the upper pants, torso, and chest, which was adorned with a large gold crown. Black gloves with blue and yellow straps were bought to match, along with black shoes lined in yellow. Kairi was right, as he suddenly didn't care anymore that she had dirtied his clothing but still was embarrassed to admit he was itching to put it on, because it was just so cool!

His attention was diverted when he heard his mother say "Kairi, I think he's in love" and he realized then he'd been plainly gaping at the outfit, his mouth hanging open enough to hoard flies.

Looking up, he saw Kairi was gawking at him expectantly, his own happiness seemingly mirrored on her face.

"D-do you like it?" She asked excitedly, inching closer to him.

"…I love it!" He nearly yelled and rushed to hold her, wrapping his arms around her waist to lift her up whilst spinning her around. He set her down and pulled her into a hug, unthinkingly burying his face in her hair, taking in the sweet scent of what smelled like warm vanilla and mango. She smelled so good, so very sweet just like her heart, and he found himself wondering if every part of her smelled like this. _I love you._

He looked up when he saw Riku walking down the stairs wearing deep blue denim shorts buttoned down to navy extenders that gave them the look of cargo pants tucked into his white shoes lined with yellow. He wore a long sleeveless black undershirt that reached his buttocks and was zipped down front from his neck to just past his navel. His sleeveless overcoat was predominantly yellow with wide white trim all around it, including at the opening, which was held together by crisscrossing navy straps buckled in the middle. The final complement to the outfit was his typical soft wrist cuffs which were black and trimmed with white, covering the bottom half of his forearm.

He looked pretty nifty too but instead of admitting such, Sora blurted out "Hey, pretty cool. Kairi didn't make you look any more like a lame surfer-wannabe than you already did."

Riku crossed his arms and eyed him, saying "Well, you look more excited than a girl gushing over her prom dress. If Kairi lets me escort you to the dance, maybe I'll give you a corsage."

It was then Sora realized he was still holding Kairi, who smiled up at him and said "Well, maybe no one here will thank me but I think I've done my part in upholding a pretty cool tradition."

Finally letting her go, Sora asked "What tradition?"

Giggling, she answered "New adventure, new gear. Every time a new journey begins, we always seem to update our outfits, so I thought 'Hey, why not?'"

"Thanks Kairi," Riku said, putting a hand on her bare shoulder as he walked up behind her, pulling her into a grateful platonic hug, although Sora did notice one of his hands resting on the contours of her hourglass waist.

While the action made him initially flare up in jealousy, something about it reminded him of Riku's statement two years ago. _'We've always been rivals, haven't we? You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you.'_ It wasn't the fondest memory and Riku had said it at the time with darkness in his heart and malice in his voice but he hadn't been wrong.

They were friendly rivals that pushed each other whenever they saw an opportunity and right now Riku was all but giving Sora the finger, vengeance for his extended display of affection. It was stupid but it comforted Sora too because it was then he knew for certain they were back to the good old times where they laughed off their emotional and sexual frustrations by all but literally beating each other with sticks.

The next hour was spent preparing dinner, fresh fish of a few varieties descaled, fileted, deboned, coated with lemon butter, and impregnated with sprigs of rosemary, cooked the old-fashioned way on skewers over a fire. Quina prepared the fish whilst Kairi made the garnish, French fries dusted lightly with cayenne pepper alongside cool pineapple wedges. Meanwhile, Riku set up the fire and once they were finished, Sora cooked the herbed filets, which mainly just involved him slowly turning them over the fire until they smelled tasty.

Dinner was finished by the time the horizon began gobbling the sun and they ate in lighthearted peace around the glow of the fire just as few stars could be seen winking in the rose colored sky.

Leaning against her son, Quina hummed happily, her plate empty before everyone else's, evidence to her void-like appetite. She turned to Sora and said almost sweetly, "I should have just eaten you when you were little, then you'd always be with me and I wouldn't have to go through these sad goodbyes."

Putting his arm around her, Sora stated "I'll always be with you mom and it's not like I'm not going to come back. I'll probably be back before the end of the year. Hell, I'll miss your cooking too much, give it six months." A couple of moments passed and Sora understood for the first time just how much all her joking was put in place of concerned inquiries and sorrowful pleads to stay. As she stared at the fire, he realized how beautiful she was and how grateful he'd become for all the good years she'd given him.

"Mom, thank you…for everything, including, you know, taking this so…easily, I guess."

Without looking away from the fire, she demanded simply "Well, just be sure to bring me back good recipes."

"Huh?"

"Before he up and drowned on me, your father would always bring me back the most amazing recipes from different islands he'd visit. That's how I saw everything, was through the food he'd have me cook for him. When you come back, I want you to respect me like the proper gourmet I've always been and show me your life through what you've eaten. Go on and get fat for me, 'cause I'm too old and lazy to make the journey myself." At that they both erupted into a short giggle fit, the best way Sora could possibly think to say goodbye.

"What's going on over there?" Kairi questioned, having been talking to Riku all the while until then.

"Nothing dear, we're just discussing how lonely I'll be once you all leave. I'll need to start soliciting the neighbors again to let me cook for them."

"If you like, Mrs. Quen, I can stay here and take care of you." Riku cooed, continuing "I know I can never be a son to you but I can at least be a man there for you when you need him."

Shaking her head and laughing, she said "Oh, stuff it Riku. I'd eat you before the week is out. Besides, we've given Sora enough acid reflux for one day as it is."

Sora, who looked mildly nauseas, agreed with a little nod and said "Well, think it's about time we took off guys?"

Riku had taken it upon himself earlier in the day to make sure the gummi ship was fully functional for their flight that night and by the time the stars were bright in the sky, they were ready to go. Sora had donned his new outfit with the strap on the pants buckled to shorten them and although the jumpsuit and jacket were a little looser on him than he was used to, the outfit made him feel renewed. Kairi wore her own, a simple loose maroon skirt speckled with small lavender flowers and a white tank over a lilac halter top. She adorned herself with purple, gold, and black armlets, an anklet designed in a chain of many-colored stars, and a necklace with her usual silver bead.

"Nervous about your first gummi flight, Kairi?" Sora asked as they boarded the ship, which had been conveniently hidden beneath a thick canopy of leaning trees on one of the lesser visited islands.

"You forget I was within you a few months. This'll be the first time for my body but not the first time for me." Kairi said, sitting herself into the rightmost seat while fastening her buckle as though she'd done it half a hundred times already. Riku walked over and yanked lightly on her belt strap, a protective action to make sure she was completely secure in her seat.

"Thank you Riku but this isn't a roller coaster at a fair." She said while giving him a look of mild annoyance.

"You're welcome Kairi but this isn't a ride." He said with a playful smirk, easing himself into the middle seat situated in front of the main control panel.

"Um, excuse me?" Sora said in the least questioning manner he could muster, walking over to stand within Riku's line of sight with his arms crossed, his face demanding.

"You're excused." Riku said casually, fastening his own seatbelt while purposefully ignoring his irate friend.

"Uh, you know what I mean. This is the gummi ship Donald, Goofy, and I used to fly. Donald taught me how to steer. I've been its pilot ever since." Sora proclaimed, firmly placing his knuckles on his hips in defiance.

"So? It has my name on it." Said Riku.

"Huh?" Sora asked, surprised and confused.

"'Highwind.'" Riku said bluntly while initiating the ship into boot-up.

"…"

"I was looking through the data logs and saw it's registered as 'Highwind.' You stuck to our deal all those years ago." Riku smiled when the ship's engine began to hum and the control panel's buttons glowed brighter in half a hundred colors. "Thank you. Our deal was made over the raft but you did it anyways."

"Mmm, you're welcome. But that's still my seat you're in!" Sora was saying exasperatedly when the 'incoming call' button began to blink and an unbearably annoying ringtone began to play of a screechy Donald screaming "Answer the PHO-O-O-O-O-ONE you big palooka!"

Lunging forward clumsily to end the audio torture, Sora was a second away from pressing the relieving button when Riku leaned over easily and pressed it, saying "This is Riku with Highwind. How may I direct your call?" Sora lost his balance and fell face-first to the floor in front of Riku, who lifted his feet out from under his friend to rest them on his butt as a foot-stool.

"Direct? What?" A confused whiny duck voice could be heard asking over the intercom, followed by "…STOP SCREWING ARO-O-O-O-O-OUND!"

Sora looked up to see a smirking Kairi shake her head in disapproval and then get up from her seat to help him up, first by giving Riku's legs a good slap to shoo him off.

"Hey Donald!" Sora said, finally standing back up with Kairi's help. "Just ignore Riku, he's mad that he can't play captain." To this, Riku responded by pulling the lever to finalize the engines' start-up, causing the ship to shake enough it almost knocked Sora over again.

"What as that?" Donald asked.

"Nothing…Donald, we're just about to take off. Any suggestions? Did Lea find any interesting worlds while he was out scoping the universe?"

"Sora, you need to forget about that! Come to Disney Castle, quickly!"

"What's going on?" Sora asked.

"There's no time to explain." Donald said impatiently.

From in the background, they could hear a distant Goofy yell "Did you ask about Riku and Kairi?"

"I'm getting to it! Riku's there, right?

"Roger that." Riku answered for himself.

"And Kairi too?"

"I'm here. What's wrong, Donald? Is everyone ok?" Kairi questioned, the concern in her voice suddenly making Sora feel deeply unsettled.

"We'll explain when you get here but we need you two! Now please, hurry!" Kairi shifted in her seat at the sound of the crystal clear desperation in Donald's voice and turned to look questioningly at Sora, her indigo eyes rippled with worry.

"Donald!" Riku quickly interrupted, asking "Tell me one thing…does this have something to do with Heartless? Has Xehanort…somehow come back?"

"No! At least we don't think so, we've never seen this before! That's why we need you and Kairi. Now please, we've been trying to reach you since yesterday!"

"Don't worry Donald, we're on our way. You know how fast I can fly this thing." Sora said confidently with the hope of reassuring his distressed friend light years away and keeping the ones with him upbeat.

"…Thank you Sora, thanks you guys. See you soon." Donald said calmly but before he could hang up, they heard Goofy in the background yelling "See you soon you guys! Don't do anything that'll make Donald mad!"

"What do you me-" was blurted out before Riku shut off the call, sighing as he leaned back into his seat to say "Well, this is one way to start a thrilling fun-filled journey.."

"Hey, at least we're going together this time." Kairi said, leaning over to lightly rub Riku's arm in assurance, her smile and touch enough to quiet his mind a bit.

"Yeah, you're right." He said, lightly putting his hand over hers. "As long as we have each other…"

Kairi's smile widened and she slipped her hand out from under his, leaning back into her seat to buckle herself in and smacking Riku's hand when he made to assess the strap again.

"Hey, Riku." Sora said to redirect his friend's attention as he walked to loom over him, his face serious and his usually bright eyes grave.

"Yeah, Sora?" Riku asked, concerned at Sora's sudden change in mood.

"You're still in my seat."

**Disney Castle**

Most of the trip had remained relatively peaceful with the occasional debate over what could possibly be wrong if no Heartless were involved. In truth, while the three of them were worried over the sudden summons, the probability that Heartless weren't the source of the problem comforted them, as it meant they were right to think they'd defeated Xehanort once and for all.

They debated for a while who could have written in the journal, as to their knowledge, only Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, and they had access to it but none of them had a reason to pose such a question. They weren't even certain what the question meant and after a bit they tabled the topic for something more lighthearted. For the most part, they mused over what kind of worlds they theorized they might find and laughed when Sora told them of his mother's ardent request.

There was one point Kairi knew for a certainty she would die when the petty bickering over Riku giving up the pilot's seat came to a head. Sora all but ripped Riku out of the seat and an amateur wrestling match erupted on top of the control panel, sending the ship rolling through space like a badly made paper plane. Somehow the ship missed several meteors and large chunks of space debris, giving Kairi the time she needed to cast Stopra on the dueling duo. She quickly yanked the frozen intertwined brawlers onto the floor haphazardly and took control of the ship in time to avoid a large rock. Their raging faces complete with crazy widened eyes, bared incisors, and some spittle flying from Sora's angry maw made Kairi snigger but she still chided them when the spell wore off.

Kairi was anxious for their adventure, just as she'd been for her boys to return home to her over all that time when they were out looking for each other. She wished she had a ship then or even some way to open doors to other worlds like beings of darkness but Sora wouldn't have let her help anyways. Instead she ended up kidnapped by the Organization, getting in the way just as Sora predicted but looking back, she didn't entirely regret it.

After all was said and done with Sora and Riku's Mark of Master Exam, she underwent her own form of it and was able to help them hunt down Xehanort. Now, she still didn't fight well at all, but her magic was on par with Donald's and she made the secret decision that if something were to go awry with their plans of a peaceful adventure, she was coming regardless of her friends' wishes.

The rest of the flight went by without a hitch with Kairi flying smoothly under no influence of testosterone or boyish pride. Sora was slouched down in his seat with his arms folded in clear pouting, silent for most of the trip to Kairi and Riku's amazement. Riku was taking his own revenge on Sora by having a purposefully whispered conversation with Kairi that by no means needed to be secretive. It drove Sora crazy and he couldn't stop the clear pattern of obvious staring followed by turning away anytime Riku shot a glance his way. Kairi knew what Riku was doing, just as she usually did, but was amused by their jealous antics and even encouraged it a little, as it was one of her few vices.

Before long, Disney Castle was in clear sight and Sora again tried to insist he take the wheel but quieted after receiving a maniacal glare from Kairi, settling instead to just instruct her to enter the world through the castle's gummi dock. Kairi didn't say so but she was rather nervous about parking so intricately onto the landing pad, as every time she ever experienced landing from within Sora, it'd always been in wide open areas and being careful for surrounding structures had rarely been a concern.

The Disney Castle docking tunnel was designed with the unique idea of being as inefficient and dangerous as it could possibly be. The steep tunnel was only just wide enough to fit the ship and there were several times Kairi wondered if it could do even that. She meeped when she heard a clank upon finally fitting through the dock, earning a wry smirk from Riku and a panicked stare from Sora but she just shouted "Shut up and stop looking at me!" and everything smoothed out.

The gummi dock blinked and beeped loudly and likely unnecessarily but Kairi was intrigued, as she'd never been to King Mickey's world, much less his capitol building. Every turn of the head earned an eyeful of at least three Mickey emblems, whether it be on gears, neon wall decorations, buttons, or the like. Opening the hatch to the ship, she heard the vaguely familiar voices of Chip and Dale proclaiming "Quick Crew Carrier, quicken the crew!"

At once, Sora began frantically undoing his seat belt whilst muttering and then shouting "No, no, no, No, No, No, NO, NO, NO, YOU GUYS CAN KEEP IT, I DON'T WANT IT! DON'T YOU GUYS DARE!"

Just as he freed himself of his seat, a giant mechanical white gloved hand descended as if from nowhere upon him, stretching out its fingers to grasp at the frantic brunette. It enclosed him but in his squirming, he nearly managed to flee with a very temporary smile on his face but was soon disappointed. The hand tightened its grip just before Sora could complete his escape and instead grabbed his pants, lifting him up to then be very uncomfortably upside down. Being not quite over-sized for him, Sora almost slide through his jumpsuit and his displeasure was apparent by his folded arms and smug expression.

Riku took this chance to leap out of the ship, abandoning a shocked Kairi to fend for herself, but was snatched by both his legs upside down into the air. Instead of being sullen about it, though, Riku seemed to take it as a challenge and began doing mid-air sit-ups, counting triumphantly as he was carried along. Before the hand could descend on her, Kairi stood up, faced the mischievous 'attackers' in the control station, and yelled sweetly "Hey you two, I hope you don't mind, but I overate earlier and I just figured I'd take the stairs to work it off a little. Would that be ok?"

The chipmunk with apron labeled "Chip" gave her a salute from on top of a panel and Dale leaped to press another button, halting the action of the hand. Meeting the boys at the top of the stairs, Sora looked positively peeved while Riku was stretching off his work-out.

They wound their way up a long spiral stair-case and entered into a long hall where they spotted Yen Sid and King Mickey conversing heatedly. "Mickey!" Riku shouted, quickly gaining the king's attention. Seeing what was undoubtedly dismay on his face, the three moved swiftly to make their way towards them and all formalities were forgotten. Grabbing Riku and Kairi each by the elbow, Mickey began leading them down the hall whilst talking "Boy, am I glad you're here. We have a real problem on our hands."

"What's wrong your Majesty?" Sora questioned, eager to finally get some answers.

"It's Lea. We all thought it was kind of peculiar that even after Xehanort's defeat, the wall's separating the worlds weren't reformed. So, he volunteered to travel with Jiminy and start mapping out the unvisited worlds while investigating any possible Heartless activity. He found none. At least, not from the worlds he had a chance to see. But on his way back home, he sent a message saying he saw something odd heading towards a world he'd hadn't seen before and was going to investigate. That was two days ago and we hadn't heard from him since. At least, not until yesterday when his ship crashed into a field outside of town."

"Is he hurt?" Kairi questioned with wide eyes as they rounded a corner into another expansive hallway, this one lined by Corinthian posts that faced out to the lush and well-kept Disney Castle gardens. It was filled with expertly arranged flowers and masterfully crafted topiaries of a castle and its citizens, with the addition of Sora and Riku posing triumphantly amongst them.

Yen Sid answered "It is difficult to say. His body eluded any physical damage, somehow. As for the rest of him, that's why we've summoned you two. I came as swiftly as I could but my foresight does not stretch far enough to comprehend the situation."

They reached the castle's personal hospital recovery sector, which was just about as oddly extravagant as the rest of the castle. Like most of the castle, the floors were a shiny white marble and the walls were opaque but here and there Mickey emblems were fixated. Every room hosted a single bed and while most of the castle maintained a medieval age ambiance, the medical equipment's technology within each room suggested otherwise. The bed curtains were white with gold trim and spotted in small red dots and black Mickey heads, somehow bringing a cheery feel to an otherwise sterile environment.

"Where's Donald and Goofy?" Sora asked as he realized his old pals and allies were nowhere in sight.

Mickey answered with "They'll be here soon. I sent them off to the library to find anything they could to help us. They should be wrapping up any time now."

They passed several rooms, most of which were drawn back and empty, but several were hidden by pulled-shut curtains while being tended by nurses of varying species. The last room at the end of the stretch was far separated from the other rooms and, unlike the rest, was closed off by a door labeled 'Quarantine: Biosafety Level 3.'

"Quarantine?" Kairi asked, looking to King Mickey and then to Yen Sid, their faces concerned and perhaps what she guessed to be a little fearful.

"Worry not, he bears no contagion or affliction that can be transmitted. This was merely a precautionary measure. We didn't want him near anyone else for fear of their safety…and his own." Yen Sid explained while stroking his beard nervously.

"Why would being near other people hurt him?" Sora asked with mild impatience, exasperated at the annoying and frustrating lack of answers he was receiving from anyone.

"You'll see. Riku, Kairi, will you help us?" King Mickey asked, his tone as serious and determined as his high-pitch voice would allow it.

"Of course Mickey." Riku said while Kairi nodded her head in agreement.

Mickey nodded back and entered a code into the door panel, the door beeping in acceptance and opening automatically to allow them through. The room was rather spacious and completely white, with no decorations or embellishments of any kind. Monitors, IVs, lab benches, fume hoods, hazmat suits, assay kits, centrifuges, spectrophotometers, and every other piece of equipment that could be found in a medical or lab setting adorned the walls, all white themselves with the occasional surprise of grey or beige.

The room was easily big enough for eight normal hospital rooms but seemed to be functional as a lab complete with a disinfecting shower room at the entrance. When Kairi first rolled her eyes over him, she did not recognize what she saw and it took glimpsing him twice more for her to realize a sleeping Lea was laid upon a lone bed in the middle of the room.

He was paler than the walls and seemed to glisten more than the pristine floors, his spikey hair white with what almost appeared to be frost and his skin like ivory. His body looked as hard as ivory too and while it may have been difficult to tell from that distance, everything about him was as still as stone, including his breathing.

Sora, his face in ghastly awe, took the first step past the shower pad into the room and as his foot-fall resounded on the walls, Kairi instantly noticed a change. Lea's lips had started moving. She reached out and grabbed Sora's arm before he could take another step and when he looked back at her in question, Kairi pointed to Lea's face. Sora gasped when he saw the silent lips uttering soundless words and Kairi could feel the gooseflesh well up on his arm.

"You noticed it then." Yen Sid stated as he strode past Sora, stopping several feet from the bed.

Riku walked up next to Kairi and said "He wasn't doing that a second ago…he reacted to Sora's presence?"

"That's what we're thinking. He only seems to do it when someone comes near." Mickey said, walking to stand next to Yen Sid, his hand on his temple in thought.

Feeling more secure now that Mickey and Yen Sid had approached the bed, Kairi let go of Sora's arm and began walking up to stand next to them.

"That's why you didn't want anyone near him. You're worried he'll do more than just whisper." She said as she stared at Lea's mouth, his silent conversation seeming to intensify as another member was added to the audience. While her mouth was dry and her stomach was knotted in worry over his state, she had to admit there was a certain ethereal beauty to him now that she saw him up close. That didn't negate the eerie unease that persisted for as long as her eyes remained on him, or perhaps his presence itself was enough.

Riku followed suit and stood near Kairi with Sora walking on, closing even more distance to get a better look at him.

"His eyes…" Sora noted quietly and Kairi looked over to see that Lea's eyes were shifting frantically under his eyelids. _He's dreaming? I've never seen someone's eyes move that much, even in a nightmare._ She turned her head as she heard Riku inhale deeply and saw that he was perfectly still with his eyes closed in concentration.

When he finally exhaled a long breath, Mickey asked "Riku, what do you smell?" Kairi figured this was what King Mickey had wanted them for as it was one of the few abilities they had that were vaguely in common.

When Riku subdued the darkness in his heart, instead of losing his dark abilities completely, he actually gained a greater sense of control over them as long as he used them in a discrete measure. Ever since he gave into the darkness, he'd been able to 'smell' the attributes of one's heart, from how much darkness resided within a person to sometimes even being able to smell through a disguise and identify an individual by their scent. It was clear then that Lea, while seemingly not physically damaged, may be suffering from something beyond the flesh.

Riku shook his head and craned his head back, inhaling more slowly and deeply this time, letting out his breath after holding it for a moment and opening his eyes to look at the King with bewilderment. "I don't smell anything."

"You don't smell anything wrong?" King Mickey asked, a mild amount of relief in his voice.

"No, I just don't smell anything. At all. Like, there's nothing there, inside him. I don't smell any darkness and I don't smell any of…Lea. I don't smell him."

"Wait, are you saying…are you saying he's a Nobody again?" Sora asked, his face a picture of confusion.

"No. At least I don't think so. Nobodies…even if they didn't have hearts, they had personalities. They had memories. That and their ability to control the darkness was enough to give them their own scent, almost like normal people. They were faint but they were always there. Lea's is just…gone. He doesn't even smell like Axel. I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference if no one was there at all." Riku said, his face a little scrunched in frustrated thought as the gears in his head tried to churn out a reason for this oddity.

Mickey shook his head, Yen Sid stroked his beard, and Sora voiced the obvious question everyone was thinking. "But, if he's not a Nobody, then what could he be? I mean, aren't Nobodies just supposed to be the left over bodies from people who've lost their hearts? If you don't smell anything and all he has is his body, then…what is he?"

Sighing, Mickey said "I don't know, Sora, but…Kairi! Could you give it a try?"

After the shock of what Riku said, Kairi had all but forgotten about her potential input into the matter and suddenly, she felt nervous. She looked at Mickey and nodded but for reasons she could not say, a cold sweat had broken out over her forehead and back.

It was simple, as a Princess of Heart, she could merely touch a person and feel their disposition, assessing the content of light and darkness within them. Intense waves of darkness, such as those that emanated from the World that Never Was, could be felt from afar but if she concentrated enough when she touched someone, she could even see what their heart desired the most, the virtues and the vices. It was simple but she knew without even touching him that this would be anything but simple and while she didn't verbalize it, she was afraid.

Riku leaned over and touched her back lightly, sending a chill up her spine while saying "Kairi, are you ok?" It was then she realized they were all looking at her and, knowing she was just being silly, she nodded silently and walked over to stand next to Lea's bed. Kairi felt a faint wave of dizziness and while she didn't know it, she was almost as pale as the body before her, her nerves fully evident by her incessant lip-biting. She wondered if he felt as cold as he looked but quickly dismissed that thought as well and leaned over to touch his chest over his heart.

His eyes snapped open and they just weren't green anymore. His strong hand grabbed her arm and she wanted to scream but the cold grey marbles locking eyes with her own held a power over her she was completely unprepared for. She was right too, he felt as cold as he looked but at the same time it dawned on her that her arm had gone numb, so maybe she just felt nothing at all.

"You, you, it is, it is you, it's been so, it's been so long. So very long. Te-Ten…" Her hand gripped his chest and she could feel **him** but she didn't know what she was feeling because she felt Lea in one moment but then he was gone in another. Over and over again the feeling of him and something else fluttered back and forth like a failing heart unable to pump properly. His lips were moving faster than the words that were escaping out of them but for all she knew, what she was hearing may not have been spoken verbally anyways.

Far away she heard a voice from someone she might have once known yell "Get the hell off her!" but she must have been imagining it, because the only people there were Lea, herself, and…

Sora was on him immediately and it was only then Kairi realized she'd been pinned to the ground, the glass eyes clearly having stolen seconds from her consciousness. Both of Sora's hands were tightly clasped around the arm holding Kairi, yanking at him with all his might to free her but Lea failed to notice. Riku ran to bulldoze Lea off her but when he didn't budge, he resorted to wrapping his arms around his torso to try pulling him away.

All their efforts surmounted to enough force to mean absolutely nothing and Lea slowly but effortlessly moved his other arm to touch Kairi's face gently. His own face was one of awe, turning into admiration as a little smile broke into his pale face and for a moment, she could swear he was on the verge of crying.

It all changed when his palm pressed onto her cheek and with no warning his expression went from amazed to rageful and the numbness in her arm was lit ablaze in pain from the vigorous strength of his hand. He squinted his eyes in anger, and what she thought might be hurt, and a cold teardrop escaped to fall onto her chest, the sensation the first real sign of danger her mind was able to register.

"N-no! You…They are wrong. They are always…wrong. I'll find them…I'll show them…I'll bring them back!" The pale body growled and as soon as his verbatim was done, that was it.

In a matter of a few seconds, he swung the arm Sora was clung to with such strength the brunette was flung limply a few feet into the air and fell half-way across the room to land limp like a rag-doll. Standing up, he snatched Riku from off his back and threw him down hard enough on the ground to illicit a scream from the silver haired boy and endow the floor with a crack.

Holding out his hand, he summoned a massive ornate silver Keyblade vaguely resembling the Ultima Weapon, only the individual spikes protruding from it appeared to be miniature versions of weapons, such as a spear, a sword, an axe, and the like. The tears on his cheeks now evident, he pointed the extravagant Keyblade at her and it was only then she realized she too had been crying.

"I…I…I WILL NOT BE MISLED!" The voice sounded like echoes bouncing off a palace of glass but it was the aberrant light shining from his Keyblade that called to something deep within her. She was reminded of two years ago when she lost her heart on Destiny Islands and it was then she knew everything was going to unravel all over again.

"THUNDER-ER-ER-ER!" It was most certainly not the most appropriate spell Donald could have chosen, as all the machinery within the room began to whir and blink to life, but served its purpose well otherwise. The thundaga hit him square on the head and he faltered long enough for Goofy to spin and throw his Save the King shield directly at his face, making him stumble onto the bed.

"There, that's what you get for always chewing with your mouth open!" Donald screeched triumphantly, not entirely aware of what was going on but oddly satisfied nonetheless.

Just as the pale shadow of Lea began to regain himself, Sora was upon him, moving to make a sideways strike to his undefended torso but to his surprise, he recovered quickly, turning around to catch Sora's Keyblade in his hand. As Lea twisted the Keyblade to tear it from Sora's grasp, King Mickey leapt from his other side to bring his Keyblade down upon his head but Lea raised his own with one hand to stop him. Suddenly, he was sent flying backwards into the wall as Riku took advantage of his completely open abdomen and unleashed Dark Aura upon him. While down, Donald took his chance and leapt atop the bed to begin casting all manner of spells his way, setting him on fire, electrocuting him, and freezing him until his magic was nearly out.

"Donald, DONALD! Calm down or you'll kill him!" Sora yelled, grabbing onto his wand to stop his overzealous friend once Lea was frozen in a large block of ice.

Huffing from exertion and adrenaline both, Donald sighed lightly and said "Sorry Sora, I thought I saw him move so I figured he could take another shot."

"And you figured that, what, about two dozen times?" Riku said sarcastically, bending to lend a hand to the still in-shock Kairi. She shook as she went to stand and Riku grabbed her by the shoulders when she slipped, holding her close to him as she shivered ever more violently.

Whispering in his ear, she said "Riku, I think he wanted my heart. He tried to take my heart. I felt him."

"It's ok, Kairi, I got you. I'm here. We got him. I won't let him near you again." Riku said soothingly, rubbing her unusually cool back with one arm to warm her as she shivered in his arms, almost cradling her with the other until her footing felt secure on the floor

"I felt him." She said.

"Felt who?" Riku asked, his face nearly flushed against her own, and he found himself smelling her hair again.

"Him. Lea. I think I felt him in there. It was faint and I couldn't always feel him but I think he was trying to reach out." She said, finally calming down and glad for Riku's warm embrace, his sculpted torso heating her tiny frame like a happy furnace.

Riku pulled her away enough to look at her face, his own inches away from hers making her a bit flustered, and he asked "What do you mean you felt him reaching out? Reaching out from where, Kairi?"

The sound of something shattering pulled their attention away from each other and towards the breaking ice sculpture at the other end of the room. The pale man within was curled up into a ball but in an instant, he thrust out his limbs, producing a force powerful enough to shatter the ice block and send ice shards shooting every which way continuously.

Donald and Goofy ducked under the bed and Sora and King Mickey fell flat to the ground, while Yen Sid stood stoically to face the onslaught of ice with every shard miraculously missing. Riku dove with Kairi to the ground, covering her with himself to ensure she remained unharmed while she clutched him furiously to herself as though trying to flatten him.

When the barrage was done, they all looked up and there before them wasn't a mere pale shadow of Lea but something nearly statuesque and monstrous. The white Lea seemingly floated midair with his arms crossed in judgment and behind him stood a transparent, almost glassy giant towering over a dozen feet in the air. Only a vague outline of its shape could be seen but it appeared to be armored head to toe, as it held itself with a wide bulky girth, and it too had its arms crossed, only there appeared to be more than two. There might have even been more than four but it was hard to say as they covered Lea's entire torso, which could virtually be seen perfectly through them but muddled the arms' image.

The pale man waved a hand with the giant following suit and a strange surge could be felt throughout the entire room and while no one else might have seen it, Kairi felt the intensity of his eyes delve directly into hers. _Is he mocking me? _She found herself asking but after everything that'd happened in the past few minutes, she was going to trust her gut this time.

"You're not Lea!" She broke out of Riku's embrace and stepped forward, emboldened by a flash of rage stemming from the fear that'd immobilized her moments before.

The pale enigma closed his eyes and turned his head to the side, not quite giving her the satisfaction of an answer but not dismissing the question completely.

"Who are you?! What've you done with him? Let him go!" Sora yelled, believing Kairi's verdict and holding his Keyblade fast in preparation for an attack. Riku too took a battle stance but didn't leave Kairi's side, as he was keenly aware of the fixation Lea's possessor had on her.

The unknown figure lifted his head up again and opened his eyes to meet hers one last time, then bent his body down somewhat in a half-bow, and looked upwards, the giant following his every move. He held up his Keyblade and it reformed into a silver glider and the giant disappeared in a dazzling flurry of shattered light to recollect on the man in the form of opaque crystal armor. He hopped on and aimed the glider upwards to fire a round of energy shots, blowing a hole through the ceiling just large enough for the escape that followed. When the last of the debris had fallen from the roof, the group stood under the hole and watched as the pale figure continued his ascent towards the sky.

"He's going off-world!" King Mickey yelled.

"We have to stop him!" Sora said, holding out his Keyblade with the intention to manifest his own glider, when Yen Sid interrupted.

"No! Even if you and Riku both join forces to meet him, he's already shown he's far more powerful than all of us combined. Facing him in interspace will not change that."

Still staring at his Keyblade with determination, Sora sighed and let it vanish from his hand, his eyes cast downward with a look of defeat. "We still need to go after him, though. It's still Lea's body."

"Yes but it's something else too." Yen Sid said, finishing with "Kairi, there was a short exchange that happened between you two. You saw that it was not Lea. What else did you see?"

"Lea's still there within, somewhere. But you're right, Riku. I felt his heart and it felt like…glass. His heart was there, it was, but it was almost like it was empty. I felt flickers of Lea but it was mostly just this…emptiness."

"Ya mean nuthin' at all?" Goofy asked, his and Donald's faces giving expressions of even more confusion since they hadn't been present for Riku's description.

"No, I didn't feel any darkness at all. I did feel another presence for just a second when we were on the ground but it might have been Lea's. Other than that, no, nothing."

"Do we know where he picked it up?" Donald asked.

"Picked what up?" Asked Sora.

"The giant thing! Obviously he's being possessed. In that last transmission, he said he saw something weird traveling to a world he'd never seen before. Maybe it was that or something on that world. Do we know what world he landed on?" Donald asked.

King Mickey said "Afraid not, Donald. Jiminy was cataloguing the worlds with him but the search crew got back to me on the crash site; no one's spotted him. Jiminy never returned. We don't know where Lea was and where he wasn't."

"Why don't we go looking for Jiminy?" Riku said as he stayed still to allow Kairi to heal him using a stronger but more specific form of curaga that required her to target individual injuries as opposed to the body as a whole.

"That's a great idea!" She resounded while she worked her magic on the back of Riku's head which lost the argument it had with the floor, leaving a good gash that needed more urgent treatment. She smiled wryly as the green glow emanating from her hands pieced together his torn and bloody flesh and her smile deepened when he gave a little groan of relief.

"What? You mean go to other worlds to find him? Where would we even start?" Sora said, his arms folded in disquiet and disagreement.

King Mickey piped up "No! That's a great idea! Yen Sid's right. Whatever's taken over Lea is too strong. But if you find Jiminy, he might be able to tell you what happened! He may know what's going on! And if he doesn't, he at least knows where all this began and that could be a clue too!"

Sora shook his head and said "I'm all up for finding Jiminy but we have no idea what we're up against or what it even wants. I mean, what if it's doing to Lea what Xehanort tried to do to Riku…and did do to Terra? What if this has something to do with Xehanort?"

"I don't think so Sora." Riku said, his arms folded.

While finishing up with Riku's legs and standing up to move her way to Sora, Kairi said "I didn't feel any darkness. So unless he's found a way of blocking our detection abilities, I don't think this has anything to do with Xehanort. He's gone, Sora. And if Lea's out there causing trouble, it won't do us any good to stay here and wait."

Realizing they were right and the only real thing they could do was train until they became enormously stronger or find Jiminy, Sora finally nodded in agreement. "Ok but if that thing starts causing trouble on other worlds, we may still need to try and stop it."

"I agree but we need to keep Kairi safe." Riku said.

"So, we leave her here." Sora said, only to gasp from pain as Kairi squeezed a tender spot on his arm she'd previously been healing, a glare slashed across her face.

"You…will…not." She growled out.

"She's right, actually." Riku added.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sora questioned, confused at his friend's unusual decision.

Turning to look at King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, Riku said "You guys had to carry him in here, right? And he never did anything more than creepy lip synching. But when Kairi touched him, he woke up and just lost it. And he kept on looking at her, like he thought he knew her or something. I don't know why, maybe it's because she's a Princess of Heart, but he's taken an interest in her and I don't doubt he'll eventually be coming back."

Nodding his head deeply, Yen Sid said "I believe you are correct. Kairi activated him somehow. It may have been the purity in her heart. But yes, since he laid his eyes on you, he looked upon you as though you were someone familiar."

"Yeah," she said, "And he seemed pretty pissed about it too. Besides, we're at our best when we're together. I can use magic and you know it, so stop trying to baby me around. We're sticking to the initial plan, only, it'll be a search-and-rescue."

"Alright," Sora groaned out exasperatedly, then gasped as she squeezed his arm harder this time. "Will you stop doing that!"

"Will you stop pushing me around?" Kairi said, boring holes into his eyes with her own.

Sora recognized then she was more than a little hurt and as though it were something he'd forgotten and suddenly remembered again, he realized she was stronger than she used to be.

"Sorry, Kairi. I don't mean to shove you off every time something like this happens. I just want you safe." He said while scratching the back of his head.

"I know." She said and continued her soothing healing magic on his bruised arm.

"Okay," King Mickey broke in, "This is what we should do. Donald, Goofy, go to the Land of Departure and ask Ven, Aqua, and Terra if they'd be willing to help us. I want the six of us to scout out all the worlds we've already visited, including the ones that have returned since Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam. That way we can monitor where Lea is headed to and keep our ears to the ground for any other suspicious activity. It's also possible Jiminy might be on one of those worlds if he found some mode of transport. Sora, Riku, Kairi, will you three try to figure out what new worlds Lea went to? I think our best bet is to find the last world he visited and while I know it's impossible to know which ones he visited and which he didn't right now, if Jiminy did stay put, he'd be on one of those worlds."

Sora, Riku, and Kairi nodded as Kairi finished healing the last of Sora's nicks and cuts on his shins and he mouthed a little 'thank you' to her, which she responded to with a silent but playful 'you're welcome.' It was decided, just as it was days ago, and in some ways it felt as though nothing had changed, save for the added stress of needing to save their friend from the unknown. The three finalized their plans and said their goodbyes, making their way to the door when Kairi remembered something. Much to his awkward surprise, she zipped open one of Sora's large jacket pockets and fetched out the journal that once belonged to the other dear friend they hoped to save.

Running over to Yen Sid, she opened the book to the last page reading '**You've opened the door. Will you not step through?**' and asked "Do you know what this means?"

He took the journal from her hands and stared at the line for a while, almost as though it contained a whole page's worth of information. After a minute of anxious silence, Yen Sid asked "Who wrote this?"

Kairi lightly shook her head and said "We don't know."

"Who's been in possession of this book?"

Answering, Sora said "Well, Jiminy always carried it when we traveled. And almost a year ago Jiminy was at Disney castle with you all for a day. But he gave it to me as a gift before we left for the islands. So, just us."

"No one else?" Yen Sid asked with a subdued but still fretful tone.

"No. I mean, I left it in my room a lot, so my mom could have seen it but even if she did, I don't see her writing something like that." Sora said.

Yen Sid stared back at the page then turned his face up to meet Kairi's worrisome one, her eyes a mixture of curiosity and dismay. Finally, he said "Kairi…I don't put it beyond possibility that this has something to do with what transpired today."

"What do you mean?" She asked, somehow not entirely surprised but still confused nonetheless.

Answering her, Yen Sid went on, "What lies beyond the door to Kingdom Hearts is a treasure trove of mysteries. Darkness and light reside there, we know, but that may not be it. The door hasn't been opened in thousands of years and many of the secrets once known about it have been lost to the ages. My point to you is this; it is up to you three to decide what to do but know that whoever wrote this has their own purposes, whether they be good or evil. The door has been closed all this time and until recently, the worlds lived in peace. I will confess, I don't know what this passage means but whoever wrote it does and they saw fit to leave you in the dark. There may be a good reason for that but we've all been the victims of cruel manipulations before."

"…Then what do you think we should do?" Kairi asked, her unanswered questions turning into fear and her unsatisfied curiosity forming into anxious wonder.

"If I were you, I would close it. I don't know how one goes about that, especially since the door seemingly vanished after Xehanort's demise but whatever possessed Lea could very well have come out of it. If you find the way, I would close the door to Kingdom Hearts."

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Afterward:

Have to say, that ended up being a lot lengthier than I thought it'd be. Don't exactly know if that's a good or a bad thing. -_- Either way, I hope you enjoyed it! My ultimate goal for this fanfic is to create a story that follows a serious plot while still maintaining a lighthearted ambience as our three adventurers explore new worlds, kinda like the games themselves. The biggest things I'm trying to work on while I write this are my action scenes, creating a naturally flowing dialogue, and setting a steady pace of action while dialogue is taking place. Having said that, reviews are greatly appreciated if anyone has any critique (please, I need it desperately).

It was also my intention to make Sora's outfit akin to that of his original design. Not his official KHI design, the unreleased one where he looked like a little lion boy with a crazy chainsaw Keyblade.

Thanks again and happy reading!


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